Religious Promises may be Binding
The new Supreme Court Case ruling, Bruker v. Marcovitz, has some interesting implications for Jewish family law. The case was considered by The Lawyers Weekly to be the “most timely and topical” of all the…
Constitutional Law
Protecting Minorities in Canada from Free Speech
We’ve had over two thousand new visitors in the past 24 hours. We can track how people get to our site, so we know they are mostly readers of Mark Steyn or affiliated sites. Part…
Absolute Liability of Corporations
When Areas of Law Intersect The Re B.C. Motor Vehicle Act eluciated some interesting challenges in the intersection of different areas of law. The court cited Joseph Eliot Magnet of the University of Ottawa, The…
Limiting Absolute Liability
Common Law Presumptions Due to the challenges inherent to absolute liability offences, the Supreme Court provided that regulatory offences would be presumed as strict liability. In R v. Sault Ste. Marie, the city was charged…
Absolute Liability & the Charter
Principles of Fundamental Justice The proof requirement for these offences is beyond a reasonable doubt, without any additional fault element. In R v. Pontes, the defendant was convicted of driving without a licence, without knowing…
R.I.P., Chief Justice Lamer
One of the longest serving and most influential judges in Canadian history passed away recently. Chief Justice Antonio Lamer died at the age of 74. He was most noted for his ruling over the Quebec…
ON Landowers May Have to do Hard Labour
Background Owners of land in the UK once belonging to a church in Medieval times, known as rectorial land, considered lay rectors. As such, they are liable for the upkeep of the chancel, an area…
Rule of Law in Canada
Most law students have at least some appreciation for the concept of the rule of law. In addition to the concepts of federalism and responsible government, it is considered one of the cornerstones of Constitutional…
Combating Discriminatory Publications in Ontario
After reading R. v. Keegstra one might assume that protecting “identifiable groups” from hate communications is an objective maintained through all levels of government and their subsidiary agencies. For we live in a country that…
Fear of Islamic Schools Based on False Stereotypes
Fear of Islamic Schools Based on False Stereotypes Muneeza Sheikh, Daniel Simard and Khurrum Awan On Aug. 28, representatives from the Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh communities came together to express support for John Tory’s…
UK Adopting Canadian-Style Constitutional Reform?
The origins of the Canadian legal system are clearly within the common law tradition, specifically that of the United Kingdom. The founding document of Canada’s existence, the Constitution Act 1867, determined the federation, distribution of…
Sa Tan sues The Queen
Ambrose Bierce defined politics in 1911 in The Devil’s Dictionary as, “A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” But someone took this concept a step further. Suit Filed in Federal Court On…